A University of Illinois study suggests avoiding cooking methods that produce the kind of crusty bits you would find on a grilled hamburger, especially if you have diabetes and know you are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease.

“We see evidence that cooking methods that create a crust – think the edge of a brownie or the crispy borders of meats prepared at very high temperatures – produce advanced glycation end products (AGEs), says nutrition professor Karen Chapman-Novakofski.

"And AGEs are associated with plaque formation, the kind we see in cardiovascular disease.”

In the study, the scientists compared the 10-day food intake of 65 study participants in two ethnic groups: Mexicans, who have higher rates of diabetes and a greater risk of complications from the disease, and non-Hispanic whites.

“We found that people with higher rates of cardiovascular complications ate more of these glycated products. For each unit increase in AGEs intake, a study participant was 3.7 times more likely to have moderate to high risk for cardiovascular disease,” says Claudia Luevano-Contreras, first author of the study.

The study showed that non-Hispanic whites had a higher intake of AGEs and they consumed more saturated fats.

However, the association between AGEs and cardiovascular disease was stronger than for saturated fats and heart disease, she says.